TPO subcommittee recommends new manager

Thursday

Sep 27, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2012 at 9:25 PM

PANAMA CITY — A subcommittee of the Bay County Transportation Planning Organization has selected former West Florida Regional Planning Council employee John Stanley to manage public transportation in Bay County.

FELICIA KITZMILLER

PANAMA CITY — A subcommittee of the Bay County Transportation Planning Organization has selected former West Florida Regional Planning Council employee John Stanley to manage public transportation in Bay County.

Stanley was selected from four applicants who responded to a request for qualifications issued by Bay County at the request of the TPO. Two of the applicants, McDonald Transit and First Transit, are large national companies based in Cincinnati and Fort Worth, Texas respectively. The third was Amanda Harris Bawn, development director for the Panama City Rescue Mission.

The applicants were presented to the subcommittee for ranking, but at the request of TPO chairman Mike Nelson, Assistant County Manager Dan Shaw recommended Stanley.

“County staff has worked very well with John,” Shaw said.

His past experience with WFRPC gives him insight into the particular issues of Bay Town Trolley and Bay Area Transit and he is local and will be able to get started immediately.

Lynn Haven Commissioner Rodney Friend concurred with county staff’s assessment and said he was particularly impressed with Stanley when the two worked together to redesign the trolley’s route through Lynn Haven.

“What separates John to me personally is he seems to really have a passion for it,” Friend said. “I came today prepared to recommend John as my No. 1 choice.”

Stanley was not reachable for comment Thursday afternoon.

The decision comes after months of discussion during which TPO members have complained about a lack of communication and coordination between WFRPC, trolley operators and the board. In August the TPO voted to relieve WFRPC of its transit management duties and contract them to a third party.

“I believe to run an organization like the trolley you have to keep it small and local,” Nelson said.

At Wednesday’s TPO meeting, Lynn Haven Mayor Walter Kelley said he was not happy the RFQ stipulated the new transit coordinator would report the subcommittee. Public Works Director Ken Schnell told the subcommittee the chain of command regarding who supervised the transit coordinator would be clarified in the contract.